In a vehicle having side doors of the so-called sashless type, a so-called front ventilator glass fixed and supported on the front end of the side door and a movable door glass supported vertically movably behind the front ventilator glass, it has been in practice to install a glass guide member, that supports the front ventilator glass on the rear edge thereof and guides the vertical movement of the movable door glass, between the two door glasses (the front ventilator glass and the movable door glass), as described in the below mentioned Patent Publication 1.
With the door glass guiding structure disclosed in the Patent Publication 1 mentioned below, the glass guide member is also provided on the top end thereof with a guide upper end seal member which is secured through male-female fitting therewith, so as to seal the top ends of the front ventilator glass and the movable door glass by means of the guide upper end seal member. In the door glass guiding structure of this type, however, the guide upper end seal member is subjected to a lateral load and/or a downward load applied by a front pillar that is installed in contact with the guide upper end seal member or similar load applied via the movable door glass by a foldable roof made of canvas or the like, making the mounting of the guide upper end seal member unstable depending on the load exerted by the components of the vehicle body such as the front pillar and the roof, thus giving rise to the possibility of the sealing function being lost. Therefore, in the door glass guiding structure of this type, it is necessary to form the top end of the glass guide member in such a shape that is appropriate for attaching the guide upper end seal member, so that the guide upper end seal member which receives the load described above can be firmly supported.
Vehicle having the door glass guiding structure disclosed in the Patent Publication 1 mentioned below has recently been put on the market. However, the vehicle has a problem of high manufacturing cost because the glass guide member is made by cutting a blank material which makes the member relatively expensive, in order to satisfy the requirements including one related to the shape of the glass guide member at the top end. Such an expensive member made by cutting a blank material may be employed in vehicles in relatively high price range, but not in vehicles manufactured with emphasis on competitive pricing. There has been a demand for a low-cost door glass guiding structure which can be employed in such competitively priced vehicles.
The present invention has been devised to meet the demand described above, and an object thereof is to provide a door glass guiding structure that comprises a glass guide member which can be made from a low-priced material such as rolled sheet, and is capable of satisfactorily maintaining required functions without being affected by loads exerted by surrounding members of the vehicle body.
Patent Publication 1: DE1990 6927